


Still Living

by murdergatsby



Category: Z Nation (TV)
Genre: Black Summer, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, Fear of Death, Horror, Panic Attacks, Season/Series 05 Spoilers, Survival
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-13
Updated: 2018-10-13
Packaged: 2019-08-01 10:02:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 783
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16282532
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/murdergatsby/pseuds/murdergatsby
Summary: George escapes death by thinking about Warren, and what she taught her.





	Still Living

**Author's Note:**

  * For [humanveil](https://archiveofourown.org/users/humanveil/gifts), [cutepoison](https://archiveofourown.org/users/cutepoison/gifts).



> I'm obsessed but, anyway.
> 
> If you're not caught up with season 5 of Z Nation, you may want to avoid this. I might not need to say that, seeing as it's dealing with a character introduced this season. HOWEVER, I always prefer to play it safe, and there are minor spoilers in this.
> 
> Gifted to [humanveil](https://archiveofourown.org/users/humanveil) bc they inspire me, and [cutepoison](https://archiveofourown.org/users/cutepoison) bc they keep me breathing (the 10K to my Addy, bruh).

George’s eyes were wide. She was hyper-focused, hyper-aware, and she couldn’t stop her eyes from _darting_ . She had her back pressed into the bark of a tree, and it brought her no comfort- hardly any stability. All the colors around her were brighter than usual, and over saturated by her mind. It made the blood _too easy to see_ . The gore that stretched along the streets she’d run from, and the decay she now found swallowing the forest floor- the world around her was _dying_ , and she could see it _all_. She couldn’t stop seeing it all.

She could be dying, too. Any minute now. Just like everyone else had. Just like those soldiers had.

She was no soldier.

_“Hey.”_

George flinched in response to the familiar voice. It wasn’t coming from anywhere specific, but it made her look to her right.

Warren was there, right beside her. Just as she was before.

 _“Just stay calm. You’ve done this before.”_ Warren reminded her. Her tone was soothing and even. She was armed but so _so_ nonthreatening. In the beginning, with so many people waving guns around her, George still got nervous around them. But, she wasn’t nervous around Warren. Warren made things okay.

“I’ve never done this alone.” George cried out. She had gotten herself separated from everyone else. There had been a lot of _them_ \- _so many undead_ . She had run off without thinking, barely picking a direction to do so, and now she didn’t know where she was. She didn’t know how to get back, or if anyone had made it to get back _too_ . _She knew some hadn’t_. “I don’t know if I can do this alone.”

 _“You’ll be okay.”_ Warren replied. _“Just, focus.”_

George felt herself nod. She breathed deep. “Yeah.” She mouthed.

However, focus was hard. The kind of focus Warren wanted from her seemed _impossible_ with everything else going on- with everything cycling in her head.

 _“They can’t be far.”_ Warren added. _“If you could run here, then they can’t be far.”_

George nodded. That made sense. They could only travel as fast as she had, and it probably would have taken some time for them to regroup. They _couldn’t_ be far.

She felt herself calming down.

Warren scoped the area around them; searching for something useful, searching for a pathway out of here. She nodded and gestured when she found what she was looking for.

 _“We just gotta get you somewhere high.”_ She said. _“So you can see where they went_.”

George followed her movements, and found herself looking at a tiny sliver of road, just through the trees. She looked back to where Warren had been- ready to get her okay, and follow her lead- but she was gone.

George felt her heart seize, for just a moment, before Warren’s voice played in her head again.

_“You’ve got this.”_

It took her a few nods of her head, a few bounces of her shoulders, and _yeah, okay’s_ falling from her lips, before she had hyped herself back up enough to _bolt_. But, she got there.

She ran.

When she reached the road, she wanted to stop. The loss of dark canopy felt like freedom. Feeling the sun, felt like freedom. She hadn’t even been away from it all that long but, _in all the panic…_ She wasn’t sure if she’d ever have it back again. It felt so _good_ on her skin.

 _“Georgia,”_ She heard Warren call to her, softly.

George broke from her thoughts of peace and looked over her shoulder, with hopes of seeing Warren again. Instead, George found herself greeted with a small horde hobbling her way- determined, focused, _hungry_.

“Shit!” George stammered. She found her feet again, and began to take off. Just as soon as she did, Warren was by her side.

 _“It’s okay.”_ Warren reminded her. They ran at the same speed. _“Run. Don’t think about what you’re running from- just, run.”_

George nodded, and mirrored the smile that grew on Warren’s face when she did.

_“Find a building. Get on top of it.”_

The fear of tripping, getting caught, or running into another small grouping of the dead- it was alive in her. But, Warren made her feel stable. She made her feel safe.

George made it to a fire escape and got herself up on the roof, just as Warren had told her to. Her lungs felt tight with fire. The inside of her mouth tasted like iron, and her body was shaking. But, she was alive.

She took a moment to look to the sky and catch her breath. It was clear, it was blue. And, she was alive.

She was going to stay that way.


End file.
